Jewish feminism

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Jewish feminism is a movement that attempts to describe and protest what it sees as the subordination of women within Judaism. Plaskow, Judith. "Jewish Feminist Thought" in Frank, Daniel H. & Leaman, Oliver. History of Jewish Philosophy, Routledge, first published 1997; this edition 2003.

In its modern form, the movement can be traced to the early 1970s in the United States. The main issues for early Jewish feminists were the exclusion from the all-male prayer group or minyan, the exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot, and women's inability to function as witnesses and to initiate divorce.

Origins of the movement

According to historian Paula Hyman, two articles published in 1970 on the role of women in Judaism were particularly influential. "The Unfreedom of Jewish Women," published in the Jewish Spectator by its editor, Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, criticized the treatment of women in Jewish law, followed in 1972 by an article by Rachel Adler, then an Orthodox Jew and currently a professor at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, called "The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halakhah and the Jewish Woman," published in Davka a countercultural magazine. Adler, Rachel. ""The Jew Who Wasn't There: Halakhah and the Jewish Woman." Davka (Summer 1972): 7-11.

Feminism in In 1972, a group of ten New York feminists calling themselves Ezrat Nashim (the women's courtyard or the women's section in a synagogue), took the issue of equality for women to the 1972 convention of the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly, presenting a document on March 14 that they named the "Call for Change." The rabbis received the document in their convention packets, but Ezrat Nashim presented it during a meeting with the rabbis' wives.

The "Call for Change" demanded that women be accepted as witnesses before Jewish law, be considered as bound to perform all mitzvot, be allowed full participation in religious observances, have equal rights in marriage and be allowed to initiate divorce, be counted in the minyan, and be permitted to assume positions of leadership in the synagogue and within the general Jewish community. Paula Hyman, who was a member of Ezrat Nashim, wrote that: "We recognized that the subordinate status of women was linked to their exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot (commandments), and we therefore accepted increased obligation as the corollary of equality." Jewish Women's Archive Eleven years later, in October 1983, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), the main educational institution of the Conservative Movement, announced its decision to accept women into the Rabbinical School. Hyman took part in the vote as a member of the JTS faculty.

Feminism in In 1997, Blu Greenberg founded the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance to educate and advocate for women's increased participation in Orthodox Jewish life and to create a community for women and men dedicated to such change. [Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance]

Orthodox feminism, like its Conservative and Reform/Reconstructionist counterparts, seeks to improve the position of women in Jewish law, life, and leadership. However, it differs in several key respects. Firstly, it fundamentally accepts and is loyal to the Divinity of Jewish law. Accepting that Jewish law is G-d's, not ours, it seeks change only in a manner that can be defended as a traditional and legitimately Jewish and halakhic process, and it seeks to work with rather than against the rabbinate and the halakhic process. Therefore, in conflicts between halakha and arguments from egalitarianism, Orthodox feminists have remained loyal to halakha, even in the face of severe criticism from both anti-Orthodox feminists and anti-feminist Orthodox. Secondly, Orthodox Feminism neither requires precisely equal roles between men and women, as has been the tendency in Conservative Judaism, nor does it seek to overthrow the religious tradition and substitute new sources and traditions, as has been suggested by Reform feminists such as Rachel Adler and Judith Plaskow. Rather, accepting the possibility that somewhat different approaches may be appropriate for men and women, Orthodox feminism generally seeks a significant presence and role within the public communal service, and new, supplemental traditions, or the reinstitution of old traditions, of importance to womens' lives and worship, within what it regards as the traditional manner in which new prayers and customs have adopted within traditional Judaism historically. Thirdly, Orthodox Feminism tends to focus on specific, practical issues, such as the problems of agunah, fostering women's education, leadership, and participation, and arguments for involvement in specific rituals, and tends to avoid overarching theories and conceptual approaches as bases for action. Greenberg, Blu. On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition. Jewish Publication Society of America, 1981. ISBN 082760226X Ross, Tamar. ''Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism. Brandeis University Press, 2004. ISBN 1584653906

See also

• Role of women in Judaism
• Rachel Adler
• Blu Greenberg
• Judith Hauptman
• Susannah Heschel
• Paula Hyman
• Judith Plaskow
• Trude Weiss-Rosmarin
• Tamar Ross
• Shira Hadasha
• Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
• Partnership Minyan
• Role of women in religion

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